# Empowerment ## Definition > (1) To invest with legal or formal power or authority; to authorise or license to do something; (2a) To confer power on, make powerful; or (2c) To give (a person) the means, ability, or strength to do something; to enable. - This infers a dependency between subject and object. Demonstrates a power dynamic. - The ways to seek agency are diverse and do not always involve empowerment. - Empowerment doesn't mean devolving responsibility, just devolving control. ## Approaches [[Source - Turn the Ship Around!|Marquet, 2012]]: - I didn’t understand why empowerment was needed. It seemed to me that humans are born in a state of action and natural empowerment. - Empowerment programs appeared to be a reaction to the fact that we had actively disempowered people - I felt my power came from within, and attempts to empower me felt like manipulation ## Prerequisites - Clarity - “Don’t move information to authority, move authority to the information.” - Purpose - Training ## When it works and doesn't work From [[articles - When Empowering Employees Works, and When It Doesn’t]] : ### When it works - Helps to influence employee creativity - Helps to create trust with subordinates ### When it doesn't work - When it comes without clarity or direction it can be perceived to be laissez-faire. See [[Source - The Thin Line Between Empowering and Laissez-Faire Leadership]] - Some studies showed employee uncertainty and resistance against discretion at work. - leaders are effective when the leaders' behaviours are aligned with the followers' expectations. There needs to be effective dialogue in place. - "leaders who encourage independent follower action can weaken individuals’ needs for relatedness toward their organisations and, subsequently, reduce followers’ organisational citizenship behaviours - When it's not balanced with effective monitoring - Too high expectations of staff will be disempowering. - [[Empowerment means they didn't apply equity when building the construct]] ## Alternatives From [[articles - The Limits of “Empowerment” Towards Justice and Accompaniment|The Limits of Empowerment article]]: - Focus on Human rights - Collective action (power *with*) - Accompaniment - from Liberation Theory - means focussing on long-term relationships and empathetic action. - this “elastic concept” is a movement away from aid, instead based on mutuality, self-determination, and shared listening - [[emancipation]] - god this is an interesting idea